


I never thought I'd think of You

by neomints



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, Getting Together, Hoshiumi is a 3rd year and Hinata is a great 2nd year senpai, Hoshiumi is just so Gay, M/M, This is another mostly thinking one, it's set the year after nationals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 06:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20541848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neomints/pseuds/neomints
Summary: But Hinata still treats him like a friend, unphased by their history and even spurred on by it.He took Kourai's hand and shook it with a promise that that wouldn't be the last time they meet, and Kourai hated it.Yet here he is, buying pork buns for the spiker who'd beaten him, fair and square, multiple times, and he can't bring himself to feel anything but indescribably fond towards him.---Hoshiumi visits Miyagi to compete with Hinata. He has more than a few gay thoughts, and maybe some of them are actually worth it.





	I never thought I'd think of You

Kourai is used to being the shortest person in any given group. He's used to looking up, picking fights, and preparing to destroy other's preconceptions about him with one perfectly executed attack.

His life has always been a series of steps to stand above the people who literally loom above him, so it's a little strange whenever he hangs out with Hinata, because for a second he doesn't have to do any of these things.

It's a rare occurrence of course, the fact that they live in completely different prefectures makes it hard to meet up, and more often than not Kourai will find himself heading to Miyagi rather than having Hinata come over. Their trips are more frequent now, but Kourai can't help but wonder how unlikely it would have been for all this to have happened if it weren't for the first time they'd met up.

It all started with a challenge.

They'd just started texting over line when Kourai had told Hinata that he could set fifty two consecutive volleyballs into a basketball net, this of course prompted Hinata to ask for proof. Eventually both of them had agreed to meet up and compete over who could set the most volleyballs into Hinata's gym's basketball net, and the rest was history.

(Kourai won, of course, but not without Hinata putting up a fight.)

After that the visits became a habit. Every month or two one of them would come up with a challenge. They'd congregate at either one of their volleyball gyms and duke it out until one of them is declared a winner, at which point the loser has to treat the champion to a sweet of the home team's choosing.

It's silly, but Kourai can't find it in him to think of it as anything but exciting.

Today he's in Miyagi again, lying on the floor after hitting twenty-three broads straight into Hinata's waiting arms. Hinata himself is on the floor across the net, a smug smile on his face; probably as a result of the fact that he'd hit twenty-_four_ broads into Kourai's arms before he gave in.

"So," Kourai manages between deep breaths, "what am I buying this time?"

He looks at Karasuno's setters; Kageyama and that new first year with the Hirugami vibes. Kageyama doesn't seem to care, as usual. His attention span is limited purely to training probably.

At least the first year is helpful enough. He leans back from where he was sitting across the net and hums, "I know you said you usually eat sweets Hinata-senpai, but why don't you go get pork buns from coach's store instead?"

Hinata jumps and hollers at that. This dude has just hit twenty-four consecutive straights with no breaks, and he's _entirely_ unphased by it. Kourai smiles to himself and hopes that it looks less fond than it feels.

"That's a great idea!" Hinata shouts, ducking under the net with a spring in his step, "c'mon Hoshi-san let's go eat pork buns, your treat!" 

Hinata smirks as he holds out his hand for Kourai. Even if Hinata had meant for it to be competitive there's a certain brightness that never leaves him when his lips quirk upwards.

(Kourai hasn't forgotten the way Hinata smiled during their first game. The warmth that seeped into him and made his muscles burn with an ache to do _more_, to be more, to play on a field so even yet so different to this boy's that it felt good on his fingertips.)

Kourai closes his eyes and breathes out. He holds onto Hinata's outstretched hand and the warmth feels electric; his hand is worn and calloused and so close to being the same size as Kourai's, and it excites him more than he wants to admit.

(Kourai already knows that Hinata has slightly longer fingers than him, though his own hands are broader than Hinata's. The first day he'd come to Miyagi, they'd competed over who's hands were more optimized for spiking, and they'd pressed their palms against each other and pointed out their similarities and differences. The realizations that sparked within Kourai that day still churn in his chest to this moment.)

"Yeah, yeah," he says, rubbing his sweaty palms over his gym shorts, "I'll throw in a free drink just for you, your highness"

Hinata's eyes light up, "Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Like hell I would! Fuck off!" Kourai ruffles Hinata's hair roughly, and his face heats up at how easy it is to do so. He almost wishes he hadn't denied it if only to see the light in Hinata's eyes again.

"Are you guys going to keep standing in the middle of the court," the first year says, a look that could almost be knowing on his face, "or are you going to let me and Kageyama-san start practicing jump serve receives again?"

Kourai and Hinata look at each other for a moment, and they smirk in turn. 

"Bet you can't receive more of Kageyama's serves than me!"

"You're on."

\---

The late afternoons are nice in Miyagi. 

There's something about walking along unfamiliar roads that's always appealed to Kourai, and walking them with someone he admires is always a positive.

Hinata is humming a tune he's never heard before, but the click of his bicycle against the pavement almost sounds like a rhythm, and Kourai can't help but notice that the two of them are walking in step with it.

They argue over who would win in a battle of blockers between Goku and one-punch man, and Kourai wins on virtue of the fact that you can't block by punching a ball. 

The conversation dies out and they both enjoy the warm afternoon breeze in silence, and Kourai takes the rare chance to study Hinata's profile as discreetly as he can.

He's cute. There's no way around it. 

His hair curls in on itself like one of those little puppies tails, and his cheeks are dotted with the occasional freckle.

(Kourai has wondered many times if he'd be able to feel those freckles beneath his lips if he played his cards right. Maybe he could issue another challenge, or maybe he should suggest it as a reward- but that would mean admitting his desire to kiss Hinata and he doesn't think he can do that just yet.)

Still there is something terrifying in Hinata, and it's that more than anything that draws Kourai in so certainly.

The fact that they're so equal, yet Hinata never feels the need to stop improving, to stop moving. Sure Kourai has all the experience in the universe, but Hinata's pure skill and ability to grow puts them in the same playing field as Kourai.

This fact alone used to make Kourai bristle. He'd named him as an enemy from the moment he'd found out about him. He'd wanted to beat him from the moment they met. Kourai had yearned to see the defeat in his eyes as he became the only one, the true little giant, lonely in the tip of his mountain.

But Hinata still treats him like a friend, unphased by their history and even spurred on by it.

He took Kourai's hand and shook it with a promise that that wouldn't be the last time they meet, and Kourai hated it.

Yet here he is, buying pork buns for the spiker who'd beaten him, fair and square, multiple times, and he can't bring himself to feel anything but indescribably fond towards him.

"Here," Kourai hands Hinata the paper bag, ignoring the way his mouth waters at the smell, "you can pick first."

Hinata squints at him, then at the bag, and back at him, "is there a trick to this..?"

One of Kourai's eyes twitch, "you were there when I bought the damn things! Plus your own coach gave them to me, there's no way he'd poison them if you're his star player!"

Hinata's eyes widen, and his hands pause in the middle of grabbing the bag.

By the time Kourai realizes what he'd said Hinata is already inhaling his pork bun, one arm outstretched to give the bag back to Kourai.

Hinata mumbles something through his full mouth, and Kourai opts to interpret it as a thanks, his face an embarrassing shade of pink.

They walk together towards a small park where Hinata had allegedly used to practice as a first year, and they find a pleasant bench to sit on. 

It's getting dark now. Kourai still has to get back to the station, and find a bus back home. He knows it gets harder after dark, but he doesn't want this moment to end just yet.

The pork buns are as amazing as the crows said they were. Every mouthful is a blessing to his aching muscles, begging to take up every bit of his attention, and still Kourai can't help but appreciate the boy sitting next to him more.

He glances beside him and sees that Hinata is still on his second bun, one hand securely around it and the other sitting alone on the bench between them.

It would be so easy, to reach out and hold his hand right now. To feel his warmth again. To find out what those fingers feel like between his own.

So Kourai does.

Well, he actually places his pinkie over Hinata's. Casually, cooly, hoping that the warmth and sweat of his finger doesn't give him away. Even this minute contact leaves him breathless, and he inwardly swears at his own weakness.

(And wasn't that what he was always trying to avoid? Wasn't he always trying to prove that he isn't weak? Why is it then that he doesn't think he minds the feeling as much as he thought he would?)

Kourai doesn't look at Hinata; terrified of what expression he might see. Hinata doesn't move away, but he doesn't stop eating either.

Eventually Kourai hears the crumple of packaging and the beating of his heart is just too loud for him to ignore any longer.

"I meant it, you know." He says, his mouth hidden behind his closed fingers as he rests his chin in his palm, leaning on the bench..

"What do you mean?" Hinata sounds uncertain, it almost makes Kourai chicken out, but when the hell has he done that before?

"That you're Karasuno's star player."

Silence.

"I mean," Kourai starts again, a futile attempt to make up for the silence, "you guys have a lot of geniuses, like that Kageyama guy and your third year libero last year, even some of your first years are impressive, but like..."

Kourai ruffles his own hair, making the tight curls move around in all sorts of directions, his pinkie tightening around Hinata's while the heat in his body moves to his face and ears.

"You just make people notice you, no matter how small you are! You have a commanding aura and you make your opponents feel things, like- like fear, and frustration, and... and..."

"And..?" Hinata's voice is soft. Kourai has never heard it like this before.

"And..." he takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, "maybe a little admiration."

The air is quiet between them. Kourai almost makes a move to go back home and ignore that any of this ever happened, when the warmth in his pinkie is replaced with a warmth over his hand.

He looks over and surely enough, Hinata's hand are is his; holding onto the space between his fingers, fitting together so perfectly it'd be not hard to imagine they were made for each other.

"You have that too, Hoshi-san," Hinata breathes out, his voice sounds different and Kourai's heart speeds up at the sight of the last light of the evening glistening in those passionate eyes, "I... I admire you too."

It should be put on record, that Hoshiumi Kourai is the kind of person to think before he acts. He always aims to make the right decision, though sometimes his pure instincts kick in for him.

So as he leans in, as he places his lips so gently in the space between Hinata's own, and as he finally feels the freckles he was so enamored with beneath his lips and feels the smile in Hinata's cheeks, he knows his instincts had made the right decision after all.


End file.
